


When I was Older

by marimoes



Series: Promptober 2019 [9]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Recurring Dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 14:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20995988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marimoes/pseuds/marimoes
Summary: Ace has recurring dreams of lying on the bottom of the ocean.





	When I was Older

**Author's Note:**

> Day 9: Deep
> 
> The ninth of 31 short prompts for the month of October. To see the full list go [here!](https://noswordstyle.tumblr.com/post/187741793157/as-mentioned-earlier-this-month-im-doing-a)

It’s always the pressure that wakes Ace. The familiar push against his body that makes him open his eyes. Every time it’s the same. 

He awakes in darkness; pitch black water above him, and nothing around him. 

No fish in the water. No light, well, initially at least. Some nights he stays in the darkness, and leave him to question if he’s really underwater at all, but he knows. The grit of sand against his arms and legs confirm the fact, along with the pull of current over his body. 

It wouldn’t be so bad, he thinks, if it were always like that. 

Darkness, silent apart from the stir of sand next to his ears, he could get used to. After all, he rather misses swimming in the ocean since he at his fruit. The feeling is almost comforting. 

But it’s not always like that. 

Most nights it’s not, in fact. It’s quite the opposite, with light piercing through the surface of the water to illuminate his body below. With shadows dancing across his skin, leaving it to look like he is on fire. _How ironic_, he wants to sigh, but he has no voice here. 

No breath. 

Only existence as he waits to wake up, or on more rare occasions, waits for them. Their hands pushing through the surface with urgency. Splashing the water around in panic, and when he reaches out, he cannot move. Only hold a hand up toward the sky, back forever glued to the bottom of the ocean. 

He can hear their voices, Luffy and Sabo, but they’re muffled by the water. He can never make out what they say, but he knows they’re upset, and that’s enough. 

All he can do is reach for them, fruitlessly, and struggle until he wakes. Some nights, the water isn’t as deep, some, he can barely tell they’re there. Tonight, for example, is almost cruel. Their hands no more than an inch from his, Sabo’s fingers barely grazing his own, and he stretches. Stretches his arm until it burns, dying to touch him just once. 

Through the distorted surface he can barely make out their faces. 

He watches as tears pour down Luffy’s face, and Ace wants to fuss. To tell him to stop crying, that everything is fine. That he’s not going to die. 

_I’m never going to die. _

With a hard gasp, Ace wakes, chest heaving as he takes in the cold moisture of his cell. Next to him, Jinbe stirs, opening an eye, and lets out a low hum. Ace shakes his head in response, heart still thrumming wildly. 

The handcuffs bite at his hands, and the feeling of the ocean’s pressure pulls over him once more, leaving him to clench his fists. A beat of silence passes, and Jinbe again closes his eye, settling back into sleep himself. 

A luxury Ace knows he won’t have for the rest of the night. 

Looking out through the bars of the cell, it feels eerily familiar. Their metal presence now weighing heavy on his heart. But here, at least, he can breath. Here, he can speak. 

“_Luffy_,” Ace sighs, lip trembling along with his weakened arms, “I lied.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @noswordstyle  
Twitter: @__moes__


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